Damage or disease that affects the integral structure of a vertebral body within an individual's spinal column may lead to neurologic impairment with possible permanent damage to the spinal cord as well as improper neck and back alignment. Maintaining anatomic spacing within the spinal column is critical to ensuring continued functionality of the spinal cord and nerve roots and avoidance of long term serious neurological impairment.
Typically, spinal implants that are used as a spacer type of device have a fixed overall length and are implanted without the ability to adjust the degree of expansion or curvature. Recent developments of spinal spacers have resulted in devices that may be lengthened in vivo by rotary motion to match the space presented by the missing vertebral body. Problems that have been seen with these types of designs include post-placement migration attributable to the torsional forces applied to the implant during the lengthening process risking the patient to neurologic injury, the improper sizing of the implant relative to the presented clinical space, limited device access ports for height manipulation, and the lack of endplate angulation possibilities.